The Public Service Commission in Florida told FP&L they couldn't build a coal-fired power plant on the edge of Lake Okeechobee. This is a big deal because Lake Okeechobee supplies south Florida with its drinking water, and the Everglades are a massive natural water-filtration system. So, not a great place to put a power plant that's going to belch CO2 and mercury into the air where it would settle into the water.

FP&L, predictably, said the amount of mercury would have been negligible. To them, perhaps. Not from my point of view, and not from, thankfully, the PSC's point of view either.

The commission "ruled that FPL's proposal is not the most cost-effective alternative," PSC Chairwoman Lisa Polak Edgar said in a statement. The commission recognizes the need for greater fuel diversity and more power generation, she said, but determined that the "potential benefits did not mitigate the additional costs and risks of the project."

FP&L says the downside is that we'll have to pay more for power because the only other option for them is natural gas. I think that if you're saying that the only options are fossil fuels, you need to get a bit more imaginative.